


i know your soul; i'll be your home

by kesmejohel



Category: Shannara Series - Terry Brooks, The Shannara Chronicles (TV)
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kesmejohel/pseuds/kesmejohel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. It was the beginning of the end for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i know your soul; i'll be your home

**Author's Note:**

> again, this AU is set somewhere (??????) in the TV universe.
> 
> grammar is my arch enemy and i mix past and present tenses like it’s my job. you’ve been warned!

_ It was the beginning of the end for them. _

 

*

 

”Wil, pack your things.” Caught off guard, Wil drops the rune book he had been reading and winces as it falls open onto the floor, the old pages of it crumpling like rice paper.

 

”Allanon! Don’t just barge in like that, I— I could’ve been naked!” Wil cries out and bends down from his seat near the window to gently pick up the fallen book.

 

Allanon huffs in something close to amusement, eyes glinting before getting serious again. ”You better hurry, we’re leaving.”

 

”Leaving? Leaving _where_?” Wil grumbles but stands up to do as he was asked.

 

”The Elven King just got word from one of the nearby human settlements that there has been suspicious magical activity going on around those parts. We’re being sent there to investigate.”

 

”Do you think— Is it demons?” Wil casts a worried glance at the druid as he gathers his belongings and begins to pile them onto his bed.

 

”I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” 

 

*

 

The village in question is a five day’s ride away, and when they finally arrive on site Wil is surprised to see the first marketplace they came across be so— so _lively_ , and he says as much.

 

"Life has to go on." Allanon murmurs back, solemn, as he and Wil make their way into the human village on horseback.  "Let's leave our horses to rest while we ask around, see if anyone has any useful information."

 

"Should we split up?" Wil asks as they dismount and look around the somewhat busy village center. Allanon gives an affirmative hum and with a last look at Wil and their horses, starts to make his way deeper into the throngs of people.

 

Allanon doesn't get far before he's approached by an older man wearing traders' garbs.

 

"He's pretty. How much for him?" Allanon turns his head to look where the man is pointing at Wil who is still tending to their horses a few yards away, reluctant to part from them. What appeared to be a stable boy was hovering around him anxiously.

 

Allanon’s hands curl into fists. He turns back to scowl at the man whose beady eyes are still locked onto Wil's back.

 

"He's not for sale." Allanon bites out and is about to start walking again when the man speaks up from behind him. 

 

"You're not his handler? Come on, I saw you two arrive together and it's not like someone like _that_ passes by here often! How much do you want?”

 

The man was already fishing out his coin pouch.

 

”I’ll pay you a fair sum, but don't expect me to shell out for a full price because I also saw those ears. The boy is a mutt." The trader cajoles with a smile on his dirty face, and something already brittle inside of Allanon _breaks._

 

*

 

A pained scream makes Wil's head snap up and whip around to see what the commotion is about when he spots a crowd gathering around a guy who has collapsed at— 

 

_At Allanon's feet_ , clutching his bleeding nose.

 

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa_ — Allanon!" Wil sprints to Allanon's side after practically throwing the reins of their horses at the stable boy who had been badgering him to let him do his job.

 

"What are you doing?! Why is he bleeding?" Wil asks breathlessly as he breaks through the small crowd and stops dead next to Allanon, eyes going wide as he looks at the poor guy groaning on the floor.

 

The druid was already back to his stone-faced self, and in the lieu of a reply he simply turns around and roughly shoulders his way through the people who had stopped to stare, hoping for a fight.

 

Wil spares one more glance at the broken man on the ground before following after Allanon.

 

"Did he say something? What did he say?" Wil pesters but Allanon gives no indication that he had heard him, and Wil is just about to repeat himself when the druid speaks.

 

"Nothing you need to hear." Allanon growls, and Wil throws his hands up in frustration as he trails after him, away from the hustle and bustle of the village center.

"You punched him! _In the face_ , Allanon! So excuse me if I'm curious to hear what he did that pissed you off so much."  Wil almost runs into Allanon's back when the man stops abruptly in his tracks and turns his dark, heated eyes to glare at Wil.

 

"He asked me how much I wanted for you." Allanon all but spits, his calm demeanor giving away to something _dangerous_ and Wil—

 

Wil is _baffled_.  "What? I don't— What does that even mean?" Wil asks, confusion written plainly on his face.

 

The sight of those guileless blue eyes makes Allanon's blood start to boil anew.

 

"Use your head, boy! He wanted to _buy_ _you_." Allanon snarls and his dark, thunderous expression makes Wil shiver under the slowly growing horror he feels after understanding finally dawns upon him.

 

”But— That’s— _Why_? You told him no, right? Allanon? _You told him_ —”

 

"You're my destiny. Of course I told him no, idiot boy." Allanon mutters in a low voice, aiming to ease Wil’s growing panic. 

 

By the time he notices his slip it's already too late.  Wil looks like he's been hit over the head with a steel club, his mouth working uselessly around words that won't come out.

 

” _Your_ destiny? W— What are you talking about? You're always going about this— this destiny  _crap_ like—" Wil’s voice rises high in distress and when he stutters the tips of his ears start to blush under Allanon's stare. "Like it matters, like it _means_ something—” 

 

"The elf stones guided you to _me_." Allanon rasps quietly, and the look in his eyes make Wil's heart stop dead in his chest.

 

 _Want._ Naked, unadulterated _want_. 

 

"Oh." Wil breathes, suddenly dizzy. 

 

Allanon grunts and turns his back to Wil and starts walking again. 

 

"W— Well... I mean—” Wil licks his lips nervously as he hurries to follow after Allanon, ”If that’s what you want, then… Okay.” 

 

And that easy acceptance is so damningthat it makes the iron hold Allanon has on his emotions finally give out.

 

"No, _it's far from okay_!" Allanon bellows, whirling around fast enough to make Wil jump, startled out of his wits.

 

Allannon seems startled at his own outburst as well, and Wil watches on silently as the druid starts pacing around in the small clearing they have arrived at, a little ways away from the marketplace and the man who had— _offered_ to purchase Wil.

 

Allanon makes an aborted motion to grasp at his hair with both hands before settling for simply exhaling loudly, and he visibly tries to calm himself down. 

 

_His own carelessness isn't the boy's fault and he was a damn coward for trying to take it out on him._

 

”I’m sorry.” Allanon finally says, tone low and contrite. ”I shouldn’t have said that, or lost my temper like that. Forgive me.”

 

”Hey, no, don’t worry about it. There’s nothing to forgive. And knowing me, I would’ve found out eventually anyway right?” Wil half-jokes, trying to dissolve the tense atmosphere.  ”And it’s not like I don’t want you too— Allanon?” Allanon had turned to look away from him and Wil steps closer, trying to catch his eyes.

 

” _Don’t_. Don’t come any closer.” Allanon snaps, and in that instant Wil realizes that Allanon isn't apologizing for keeping his feelings a secret from Wil.

 

_Allanon was sorry that Wil had found out because he had never had any intention on acting on them._

 

*

 

Allanon was beyond frustrated and aggravated with himself, his normal eloquence turned into smoldering ashes when confronted with Wil’s wide-eyed eagerness to— _to be with him_. Wil, who despite everything managed to remain carefree, and was so stupidly brave, so very lovely and _young_ and—

 

Wants to be _his_.

 

Allanon grit his teeth at the new pain blooming in his chest and turns slightly to glance at Wil when the boy has been quiet for far too long, and finds two glistening blue eyes and slumped shoulders. 

 

”Is this about me being a— a halfbreed?” Wil asks quietly, looking all the world like he's prepared to be physically struck down, and it makes Allanon feel like the worst kind of scum to ever have lived in all the Four Lands. ”Because if that’s it then you should know that I'm just a _half_ -elf! The half part is important." Wil _pleads_  his case, and Allanon knows then and there that he could never deserve someone like Wil, so he does what he had always done.

 

He lies.

 

"It's the only half that counts." And walks away.

 

*

 

Wil stood stunned in place as he stared at Allanon’s stiff, slowly retreating back, their original mission all but forgotten.

 

He only snaps back to the present when his eyes start to mist over and blur from unshed tears, and whether it's from not blinking for too long or the sting of Allanon's rejection, Wil doesn't care enough to find out.  All he knows is that it _hurt_ , and looking at where Allanon had disappeared makes him yearn for a home that he didn't have anymore.

 

”But you always said that destiny is inevitable.” Wil whispers into the East wind, unheard. 

 

 

*

  

_Maybe it was for the best._

 

**Author's Note:**

> i have no idea how this turned into angst, it was literally not at all what i was going for but i guess that's just the nature of writing???
> 
> the title is from Birdy's Keeping Your Head Up.


End file.
